This month White House adviser Jared Kushner's family property firm was criticised for using its presidential connections to attract Chinese investors to a major development in the US.
Through the EB-5 visa programme, foreign citizens can obtain US green cards in exchange for a $500,000 investment.
The vast majority of successful applicants in recent years have come from Asia.
The programme's supporters say it brings in badly needed foreign investment for the US property sector in low income areas.
But critics say a route to US citizenship shouldn't be for sale. From Washington DC, Giles Gibson has the story:
IN: "All over South..."
OUT: SOC
DUR: 1:52
AIR: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0525-eb5pkg-air.mp3
ARN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0525-eb5pkg-arn.mp3
FM4: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0525-eb5pkg-fm4.mp3
GENERIC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0525-eb5pkg-generic.mp3
ICRT: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0525-eb5pkg-icrt.mp3
NIGERIA: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0525-eb5pkg-von.mp3
RNZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0525-eb5pkg-rnz.mp3
VATICAN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0525-eb5pkg-vat.mp3
ZIZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0525-eb5pkg-ziz.mp3
938: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0525-eb5pkg-938.mp3
Script
UPSOT digger shaking
All over South East Washington, excavators are breaking ground on new construction sites.
The developers of a new 80 million dollar apartment block say EB-5 funding has been a spark for the area's property sector.
Kelli Brooks is from the Washington DC property firm Urban Atlantic:
Byte Kelli Brooks
"Construction lending is getting more challenging, and EB5 provides a unique foreign source of capital at a very attractive interest rate, which for development is critical to get these kinds of projects off the ground."
Chinese investors currently dominate the programme, providing around 80% of the successful applicants in 2016.
Soon Urban Atlantic's muddy construction site will be turned into modern, shiny apartments for sale. But critics of the EB5 programme say it also puts US green cards up for sale too.
David North is an immigration expert in Washington DC.
He questions whether the US even needs a visa programme to attract foreign investment in the first place.
Byte David North
"Huge quantities of overseas cash comes into the United States every year, and this maybe is two percent, two and a half percent, something like that. So it's a very small part of it."
US President Donald has vowed to create 25 million American jobs in the next decade.
And foreign investment programmes like EB-5 are already boosting the property sector in some areas.
But critics say that money too rarely ends up in the low income areas it was originally intended for.
Sign off